I recently had the pleasure of spending a morning observing one of my plastic surgical colleagues performing sentinel lymph node biopsy. What is a sentinel lymph node biopsy? This is a procedure used in cancer management, for example in breast cancer or in the case of dermatology, in the … [Read More...] about Go with the blue…

It is August.  It is the time of year when the vast majority of the nation is on holiday and probably jetting off to somewhere hot and sunny. Cancer Research UK also issued a press release on 18th July 2019 that melanoma skin cancer incidence rates have increased by 45% since 2004 with rates … [Read More...] about The forbidden fruit?

The May 2019 edition of the British Journal of Dermatology had an interesting paper on dermatological identifiers of underlying cardiac disease. [Maruthappu T, Posafalvi A, Castelletti S et al.  Loss-of-function desmoplakin I and II mutations underlie dominant arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy … [Read More...] about The usefulness of woolliness

At the time of writing, I have just returned from the European Society of Paediatric Dermatology in Dubrovnik. Of course, all things to do with Paediatric Dermatology are refreshed and new advances have been illuminated.  I always enjoy a bit of historical culture and I thought it … [Read More...] about Calypso’s isle?

Anyone who has a child aged between 5 and 10 years of age will have heard of slime. It’s not the stuff you find coming out of a slug or a snail, this is the stuff of party bags, easy online purchasing and more recently, the stuff of endless online videos showing how to make your own slime at home.   … [Read More...] about Slime busted!

We, as a family, have had a big drive this year to eat a more plant-based diet. Why? Well, probably in a bid to eat less meat (as we eat far too much meat in the Western world for our needs) and also to try and reduce our carbon footprint. Has it worked? Maybe! It can be hard to follow, especially … [Read More...] about Plant oils and eczema

We are always on the lookout for anti-ageing products; creams and serums that can prevent or reverse the altered pigmentation, wrinkles and different skin texture that can occur as we get older, more so on sun-exposed skin.   Natural products or products deemed to be ‘organic’, ‘all … [Read More...] about A natural anti-wrinkle cream?

The dark side of the moon – it’s something that’s received a lot of attention over the years with all sorts of songs and albums written about it.   And then in the week prior to writing this blog, the Chinese landed on the dark side of the moon, a major landmark in space … [Read More...] about L’autre côté de la lune

I appreciate we are in the depths of winter and many of us are not fortunate enough to be able to head off to sunny climes at this time of year. However, it is a good time to plan ahead. I say this because we  had a rather glorious summer last year in the UK and may well again this year so maybe our … [Read More...] about Keeping our children SunSmart

It’s that time of year when sprouts are on the menu! Now I’m rather partial to a good Brussel sprout but there are certain members of my family who would run to the hills at the mention of sprouts with dinner and pull all sorts of faces if I put more than three of the aforementioned on their … [Read More...] about Sprout-tastic!

To anyone who has not studied science or chemistry or even those of us who have but have forgotten, trying to explain what pH is to someone who doesn’t know can be quite tricky.   The inevitable question of what the ‘p’ in ‘pH’ stands for occurs and Doctor Google and Wikipaedia aren’t much … [Read More...] about The anti-ageing benefits of a low pH

A couple of family friends have recently acquired puppies and not only does it make me nostalgic for when our dogs were puppies but you realise how unbelievably cute they were at that age. It also makes you remember how responsible you are for them, in a way, just like your own … [Read More...] about Puppy patrol!

We have had an unprecedented summer this year so one would hope that the majority of us would have topped up our vitamin D levels. However, in the UK, vitamin D derived from sunlight exposure is generally only effective from late March/early April to September. Over the winter months, we are reliant … [Read More...] about The risks of too much vitamin D

In a previous blog we discussed how most sunscreen formulations contain elements that are damaging fragile marine ecosystems causing, for example, bleaching of coral. The Environmental Effects Assessment Panel of the United Nations Environment Programme has expressed concerns about this and the … [Read More...] about A naturally occurring sunscreen?

I think my children breathed a huge sigh of relief when they all eventually went somewhere else to get their hair cut.   I can’t say I particularly enjoyed the experience either; not only was there the stress of getting things even and balanced on either side of the head but there was always the … [Read More...] about The perils of a home haircut